The Gaol of Her Soul
by Andkere029
Summary: All power comes at a cost, as if Triggering wasn't enough of a price Taylor struggles with the cost of having enough power to reshape the world. Queen!Taylor
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this idea was born from an idea that literally wouldn't stop popping up so I decided to finally do something about it and write it out for my sanity. First story, first time author and all that yada yada. I know its not that long but I needed to put the idea out there. Please Enjoy.

...

She awoke with a groan, slowly rising off the ground that she lay on, it was then that she noticed the first thing that was amiss. Firstly, the corpse of a man that she was laying on top of, which was in itself odd but she couldn't for the life of remember how she got here. Rising to her feet she took stock of the situation, the room was what once could've been an office, papers where scattered haphazardly, a wooden desk that was split in half at the center and the blood covered blades of steel that littered the front half of the room.

Thoroughly confused at the situation she took another look the corpse on the ground trying to jog her memory, he was probably a handsome man once, blonde hair, blue eyes and a well defined six pack. The body was heavily covered with Lichtenberg Figures. Her mother would be proud that she remembered that word. Several hand sized holes went through his chest and arms making him look akin to Swiss cheese. The most concerning she thought was the overall lack of blood, sure there was the blades, but the body despite having several holes in it, no blood was pouring out like she expected. Using her impressive power of deduction, she figured that the man must've been Kaiser then, due to the remnants of metal armor that was laying about in various shards and scraps, it would explain the blades too.

Huh, so Kaiser was dead then.

Taylor didn't really know how to feel about that, but that was a reoccurring thing lately, not knowing what to feel. Just like how her father didn't visit her as much as he should, logically she knew it was due to the increase in working hours that prevented him from making the visiting hours, but she could never bring any emotion to the thought. Whatever it wasn't like she could care

The scene she decided must've been a parahuman battle site. She just couldn't remember how she ended up here, the last thing she remembered was the transfer from Brockton General to Medhall due to the superior equipment and complications born from some new parasite the doctors discovered. Before then Taylor could remember when she was recovering at Brockton General, playing with her own powers and being able to get extra puddings from the nurses using her voice, and the strange double sight she hadn't figured out the use for yet.

Putting the pieces together Taylor decided that she must've been involved in a cape fight, a particularly violent one at that and having absolutely no memory of it was highly suspicious. She figured that was in her best interest to leave before anyone spot her and start asking questions that she couldn't answer.

It was walking through the morbidly quiet halls that Taylor made a realization. There was no power in the building, it was an instinct that she had when she passed by bloodless the corpse of a nurse, Taylor could feel the small charge that was being held in the battery. She imagined that being in a hospital that it would be thrumming with power but no, when she reached out she could feel other small pockets of electricity around her. Yet she had no trouble seeing, her vision was crystal clear all the way to the smallest of details.

It was only as Taylor reached the ground floor that she noticed a problem, she could feel several cars and vans in a barrier around the front of the hospital and a high number of cell phones at the edge of her range. Walking out the doors right now would be a terrible idea, her bloody and tattered hospital gown wasn't giving her a good look but Taylor didn't want to deal with this crap right now, she was confused and in need of a change of clothes and a long shower. Taylor just wanted to go home.

When she started to lose feeling in her feet and a strange lightness well up in her chest she thought of panicking but the feeling was over in a heartbeat, when she was nothing but a golden haze on the wind.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: After impulsively uploading the first chapter at 1am, I didn't expect the response that I woke up to. Since people seemed to like the first chapter I decided to put up another with some more effort and thought put into as a thanks.

…

Feeling clean and refreshed Taylor was collecting her thoughts while cooking some tea for her and father who must be working late again, the subject of thought was her own powers. With a bit of idle toying she discovered that she had the power to create and control any electricity in her range which was roughly a 150 meter radius. Her control was absolute too not merely manipulation she mused while holding a bolt in her hand, it took a small amount of thought to hold its shape and keep it from jumping away wildly. That was how she found herself eating tea with a knife and fork made from electricity she drew from a nearby socket.

It seemed that every local news channel was reporting on the incident at Medhall, the details were sparse and obviously being withheld but there were no survivors found, every body was drained of their blood with no discrimination for age of gender. Strangely enough there was no mention of Kaiser in the report, Taylor thought that would be a important thing. The Protectorate issued a warning to the cape who did the massacre saying that they would bring them to justice and urging and of the public to forward with any information they could. The broadcast ended with the spokesman saying that the Protectorate were still investigating and an update on the situation would be expected later on.

Back onto the subject of her powers there was the two other aspects that Taylor had discovered so far, her voice and eyes had both changed. Her eyes which were once dark and murky had changed to the most striking and clear blue, her voice now held a cadence and depth to it that it never had before that would make most public speakers and singers jealous at the raw charisma it held. The voice was more concerning at the moment as human Masters were held in a dangerous regard, and she was in that category now. The eyes were a small let down she thought, at least compared to her electrical sense and her voice, they were both dangerous and powerful but her eyes only had a strange double vision that came and went seemingly at random and all they saw were people and cars that weren't real.

Making her way to her bedroom, to the cupboard that held all her notebooks. There was a small inkling that she had, she had a hard time experiencing emotions lately and reading through the various journals and notebooks had just confirmed it. Taylor couldn't feel any of the same emotion behind her own written words, she even doubted that she could replicate the same passion in her words if she had to try again. She tried to cry over the loss of her best friend but nothing worked, she tried to cry over the loss of her mother that she loved so dearly, but no tears came.

She just didn't care.

…

Walking out the front door in an oversized hoodie and baggy pants Taylor set out into the darkness of night, past the empty driveway and into the streets. She needed some space to think that she wouldn't be surrounded by hollow memories, the crisp winter air provided a small degree of comfort. With her feet leading the way she returned to her thoughts, someone to talk to would be nice, she was so confused about her loss of emotions and waking up in an empty hospital over the corpse of one of the major villains in the Bay with her earliest memory being her arrival to Medhall after the discovery of a new parasite that had attached itself to her heart.

That was a whole other mess altogether, her miraculous recovery to peak health. She must have a brute rating then, on top of her Master power and her electrical control. Did that make it a Master power or a Blaster one? She can create her own electricity too, was that a Trump or Shaker? Too many question and not enough answers.

Taylor's walk took her west of the trainyard, there were a few warehouses around the area. The only thing of interest nearby was a couple of drug dealers in ABB colors, well that was until the glowing red woman in a over sized trench coat walked past. Thoroughly enraptured by the new woman Taylor started to follow the brown haired woman, with a second look back at the gangers to see if they were just as confused as she was at the glowing woman, but no one was on his phone talking to someone but it was if they couldn't see the glow at all. It was only five minutes later of following the glowing woman that she walking into an alleyway, it was too dark to see what she was doing but Taylor got her answer when the entire alley lit up with a brightness that was hard to look at.

Ah, Purity then, Taylor almost forgot that she existed, the few times that she had checked PHO she was never in any of the Empire update feeds. Some people had rumours that she went off the grid for some wild reason or another. When Purity started to fly away Taylor forgo any stealth she maintaining and sprinted after her, while not exactly what she was looking for when she left her house this was something to keep her thoughts at bay. Fortunately it wasn't hard to keep track of the woman and it seemed that her destination wasn't far, judging by the sound of explosions and automatic weapons firing.

When Taylor arrived at the battle site it was to a heavily glowing Purity trying to pin down a teleporting Oni Lee. Now that she was here Taylor was at a loss on what to do, she came here out of curiosity but standing in the open mouth of a warehouse with two capes trying to kill each other. Did she jump in and help? Which side would she join? It was the Empire vs the ABB, both were plagues on the welfare of the city, did she try and take both out? Was her electricity strong enough to knock them out? Or could she just order them to top with her Master power?

It seemed her indecision came at the worst time, as a metallic half-dragon man burst through the roof and snatched Purity out the air. The bloodcurdling scream that she released was going to burned in her mind forever, her mind made up.

She knew what she had to do.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Notes at the Bottom

…

"Put her down now!" Using all her willpower to force her influence on the two ABB capes. Surprisingly Lung did exactly that, he dropped Purity on the concreate of the warehouse before turning in her direction. All eyes on her, Taylor started to walk forwards and just for a moment she basked in the attention, her blood furiously pumping, the slight chill of winter air on her skin. Undaunted and filled with a strange confidence Taylor meet their gaze with a smile.

"I'll give you one chance to surrender" It was a strange feeling, Taylor had never taken any drugs before but if the elation and euphoria she was feeling from her power was any indication it would be easy to get addicted. Now that she had noticed Lung and Oni Lee were also giving off the same red glow that Purity was, so she could see Parahumans then? And if the human sized red shape forming in front of her was any indication, she could see their powers too.

The explosion hit her with less force than she would've thought, it didn't even push her back any, just caused a smoke cloud to obscure her vision yet she could still see their red glow perfectly.

"Foolish girl, involving yourself in the affairs of your betters" The voice was deep and baritone, but the words were all wrong. Him? Her better? Never, he was just a washed-up old dragon sitting on a throne of poverty. She was the Queen of the world, whose power could destroy entire nations and whose blood could rebuild them to greatness unknown. The fool would be punished for his transgression.

With a thought and a wave of her hand she called forth a hundred of her Thorns of Judgement and the fight began in earnest.

No words were needed, every participant was a seasoned combatant. Oni Lee was throwing his clones at her in droves but they were nothing but an afterthought, her superior eyes allowed her to exactly where they would spawn and all she had to do was redirect a single Thorn to where his heart would be. Lung on the other hand was an excellent toy, his fire made a good contrast to the cool air when she allowed it to wash over her.

Tossing a volley towards the 12 foot tall Lung, he let out a screech of rage that would've been intimidating if he wasn't impaled in at least 10 different places. Turning back to the pest Oni Lee, he was attempting to sneak around her field of view and launch a sneak attack. Summoning a smaller Thorn, she ran her hand across the razor-sharp barbs, re-configuring her blood into a special concoction just for him, he should feel honored really, she always saved this for a select few people.

Inhibit was the name she gave to this blend, due to its power to block people from using their Gifts. It was just a small amount that she had put on her Thorn but it would keep him out of the fight long enough for her to enjoy the main course. It must have come as a surprise to the man when it struck, considering that he was hidden away behind a metal container at the time, something as trivial as a wall wouldn't stop her eyes, at least not when she was immersed in her power and the blood in the air was fueling her drive. Her Thorn stuck true; problem solved.

A ferocious roar was her only warning when she was struck, the blow had managed to throw her back out of the warehouse. Such strength was impressive, the Queen hadn't felt pain quite like that in decades, it brought a smile to her face. Looking up at her opponent she found not a man, not quite, large wings had sprouted from his upper back and its arms and legs were just as thick as her own body. Good, the knowledge her Heir had, stated that that this being had once fought an Endbringer, while the Queen had never fought on herself, if they were anything like the horrors she remembered then they would be a good fight indeed.

Lung's fire shroud was starting to turn the concrete to slag around him, the Queen took that as a sign to take this seriously. He launched another wave of fire at her, so much more intense than the last, he was fighting seriously too it seemed. Too bad for him that fire fell under her domain, gathering the flames into a hyper condensed shroud around her claws. Adding a single drop of her blood to the fire she willed it to change states and become plasma. This is the power her blood holds, the ability to change any kind of matter in seconds, liquids, solids, gases, organic or inorganic it doesn't matter, her blood is trumps all.

Launching into a melee brawl with the dragon evoked memories of the times she and her brother clashed, those were good times. Each of his strikes was meet with her own, the impacts creating shock-waves and destroying any smaller debris nearby, at this point it was too troublesome to meet his attacks from her angle on the ground, so she took flight and invited him to do the same. It took the dragon a bit longer than her to ascend and she used the time to manipulate her blood, it was clear that he was slowly gaining the upper hand in raw strength but her own claws would cut deeper due to the plasma, so she would do right thing and help him.

In the few seconds it Lung to ascend her attack was ready, outwardly it was a red orb the size of a basketball, and it took a moderate chunk of her reserves to make, she would need to feed after this. The orb struck Lung right in the torso and he was sent back into a apartment complex that made a nice pile of rubble, she hoped she didn't overdo it when the dragon didn't emerge for a minute. Hovering in closer she could see the heat wave meaning her changes had taken effect but Lung hadn't emerged yet meaning she could have accidentally boiled his insides.

It was when the Queen was practically standing on the rubble that Lung struck, it was a claw that was slightly bigger than herself that would threaten to snap her in half if she were a lesser being. Just as she had hoped the claw itself was soon accompanied by the rest of its colossal body which was to her excitement wreathed in the same plasma that her own claw was. She thought it was payback when Lung flung her through a building of her own.

Pain was all she felt, laying in the ruins of a once beautiful kitchen, shards of fine china digging into her skin, the Queen had to manually stop her regeneration from taking effect just so she could feel again. Her peaceful moment was ruined by the metaphorical sun that was Lung charging directly at her. Standing to her feet she concentrated all her willpower on one last attack to end this, she would defiantly need to feed after this. The Queen was sure the entire city could feel the effects of her attack by the furious shaking of the earth, it was one her Greater Thorns, one that wouldn't dissipate the lesser one from earlier. She would modify it too, because there was no better way to announce her presence than a display.

Lung was only getting closer by the second and it was only when he was close enough to smell that the Thorn of Judgement erupted from the ground.

The Thorn impaled Lung through the chest and then kept on rising, it was the size of a small building in width, in height it towered over all the building in the district. Lung made an impressive sight, too large to accurately measure but roughly smaller than the industrial warehouse they started the fight in, he was desperately clutching the Thorn trying to pull himself off. His efforts would be futile in a matter of seconds, hobbling over to the soon to be monument the Queen took a heartbeat to regenerate her wounds and carried on. With a hand on her prized Thorn, the Queen took a moment to look up at her prize.

Lung's body was gleaming with the blue plasma surrounding it, wings flared out impressively, head to the sky releasing a mighty roar, talons clutching the area around the wound.

This was what she wanted to display, a mighty beast felled by her power. The blood of the Queen travelled upwards to Lung, she shredded any internal organs he might have left and recreated them into a factory of her blood that would keep the body from any decay that might happen. As an afterthought she eviscerated the brain, after such a battle it wouldn't do to keep him suffering.

Perfect

With a sway in her steps the Queen made her way back the warehouse to claim the prize that her Heir sought out, when she arrived both her prize and the annoyance were still sprawled on the floor. She brought forth another of her Thorns to snuff out the annoyance, it wouldn't do for him to do something silly like make revenge against her Heir while she was still coming into power. A heart-shot as always.

The Queen turned to the woman, she was average in most senses of the word, brown hair, attractive face, average bust size and waist, her defining feature seemed to be her small stature but as any supportive mother would do she didn't begrudge her precious Heir in her tastes. On that topic she would need to touch up her Heirs body to match her status. Removing genetic deficiencies and promoting additional muscle and tissue growth made her hunger know once more. Thankfully there was a source of healthy human blood right underneath her, and after all the effort it took to rescue her it was only her right to take a small drink.

Straddling the woman underneath, her she elongated her fangs and tilted the woman's head back to give easy access to the Carotid artery, she gently bit down and drank her fill. Not enough to seriously harm the woman but enough to hold off the starvation for her precious Taylor to deal with. Mentally pulling herself backwards into the darkness her Heirs mind she let herself rest once more.

She hoped Taylor would appreciate her display.

…

AN: So if you've played Code Vein you'll immediately notice the difference in powers, the eyes for example are stated in game that they can see other Successors and Miasma energy, translate those to this fic and they can see Parahumans and their Powers. I've taken other liberties too where stuff is unexplained or doesn't crossover well. I imagine that if you didn't intentionally get the bad end or haven't played the game either you'd be super lost. Not much else to say but I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

It seems that waking up in strange places with no recollection of how she got there would be a reoccurring thing, at least this time she was in a comfortable bed and not over a corpse. Sitting up Taylor tried to recalled her last memories; Purity's scream, Lungs words, calling on her power and then drowning? That couldn't be right, they weren't anywhere near the Bay but that suffocating pressure was unforgettable. Another unsolved mystery then.

Getting out of the large bed Taylor noticed her state of dress, or rather her lack thereof. Who ever had rescued her from Lung had left her in her undergarments at least, she hoped this wouldn't be a reoccurring thing, her wardrobe couldn't take it. Walking past a full body mirror Taylor did a double take at the state of her appearance - that's not me – was her first thought. The woman in the mirror had subtle curves in all the right places, hips, waist and chest that Taylor never would. Her arms were filled out with a deceptive amount of muscle that only showed when tensed. All of the blemishes on her skins were gone too, the small moles that littered her arms, the small scar on her knee from learning to ride a bike, gone.

It was like someone had replaced her body with a barbie doll and Taylor hated it. Worst of all she couldn't express her hatred, all she managed was a pathetic hiccup that caught in her throat and a moistness in her eyes that didn't spill over. She hated that couldn't see herself in the mirror, she hated that her voice wasn't even her own, she hated that she couldn't express herself properly, she hated that she couldn't even remember everything since waking up in this twisted hell.

Deep breaths Taylor, deep breaths, she would get through this like always just one day at a time. Thinking clearly now she realized that most of her problems came from one root cause.

Sophia

She took her voice, body and emotions all when she pushed her into the locker. She had taken her best friend and twisted her into something she wasn't. She had killed Taylor in the locker because what she re-emerged as couldn't quite be human. The only good to come from this was the power Sophia had inadvertently given her. Maybe with her power she could fix things, Emma would be hers again and Sophia would be out of the picture. Yes, Taylor could see it now, Emma standing by her side and Sophia, well …

Taylor certainly wouldn't cry over her, even if she could.

But first, putting on clothes would be a good idea and thankfully there was a loose cotton shirt and sweatpants folded up on a dresser. Dressed for a lazy Sunday Taylor took to exploring the room a little more, a desk with an impressive amount of make up on display. A small walk-in wardrobe with all too many different shoes, Taylor didn't understand that, sneakers were much more practical. A cursory glance out of the window showed that she was in a high-rise apartment. Curiosity satisfied she made her way to the door, there were more doors on either side of her but Taylor could hear noise up ahead so that was where she went.

There was a boy - her age at a guess - watching TV when she approached, making her footsteps a little louder Taylor cleared her throat. His eyes were just like hers, not just the color but the detachment they held too. It was quite stunning and if the silence was any indication he thought so too.

"Uh…" Very eloquent Taylor, a great introduction truly.

"Hmmmm …" _Wow he's just as good as you at this._

"Ahh …" Use your words Taylor, it's not that hard.

"So, ummm …" _That's a start, kind of._

"I'm Taylor" Shut up me, I can use words too.

"Theo" _I swear, you two could be poster children for social anxiety._

"Nice place you have here" Why am I even arguing with myself?

"It's Kayden's actually, and I suppose I should thank you" _Because your slowly going crazy?_

"For what? I haven't done anything" Just shut up already.

"You kept her safe and made sure she was able to come home, and plus your sort of infamous what with your display being posted pretty much everywhere" Now that she was able to think again, she started to question his words. A display?

"Oh, you're welcome. I was just" In the area? Looking for someone to help me? "happy to help." Close enough. "My display?" I was a bit stunned at the awe in his words.

Instead of replying Theo just reached for the remote and changed the channel. It was a news broadcast showing several different angles of a large shining silvery dragon that had been impaled on an even larger black and gold spike. It was quite an impressive sight, very picturesque, almost like someone had taken a scene from a fantasy book and made it real.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side, anyways Kayden should be getting back soon and I think she'd appreciate lunch if you didn't mind helping?" The shyness from before was gone and replaced by a suave you man. Huh, an introvert with some natural charisma, you don't see that every day.

As it turns out Theo wasn't all that good in the kitchen, she had taken all but taken over the kitchen by the time their meal was finished. They had exchanged some small talk and Taylor had learned some interesting tidbits about him such as Purity or rather Kayden as he calls her, is his stepmother and she actually has a child - Aster – who is currently asleep in another room.

Taylor forgot that under the mask's capes were so _human._

It was 12:28 when Kayden walked through the door, her appearance a far cry from last night, mascara running, smudged eyeliner, dishevelled hair. She looked the part of a grieving woman, the kind that Taylor would never be, not anymore, and she didn't know to resent the woman for doing something that she wanted to just a few hours ago or to give her a hug. Theo it seems bear her to the punch, he guided her to the couch where she started sobbing, meanwhile Taylor was left standing there looking like an uncaring freak.

_And isn't that the truth._

…

AN: So I actually had the opposite of writers block when making this chapter, too many ideas. It was originally going to be a PRT interlude, but I scrapped that due to a lack of insight it would give, it would've boiled down to them not having all that much info, making a connection between Kaisers and Oni Lees bodies and a search starting for Taylor as the only unaccounted for person in the hospital. I had rewritten the start of this chapter due to a delightfully twisted scene I thought up between Tay and Emma. While I don't really have a schedule this one took way longer than I would've like, do you know how hard it is to have two socially awkward people talk to each other?

Rant over, I'll hopefully be quicker on the next part


End file.
